Archive of Our Own ^beta

The first time Gorou meets Itto, he is six years old, and there are Kanjou commission soldiers surrounding him, taunting him and teasing him over his features, his strangeness, how he is too different, unnatural, an animal. Even at this age, he is used to this. From a great deal of people. His Penpal, who lives all the way in Springvale and has catlike features, tells him it is sometimes the same there.

Because he is so used to it, he does not bare his teeth. He does not growl. He forces his tail to stay down and his ears not to flatten. His brothers taught him better. All of these things are fuel for the fire, they never lead to anything good. He doesn’t want to be forced into a collar, or muzzled, like poor Yachi who used to live across from him. Her family moved, after that. He wishes he could move, too.

Instead, he keeps his head clear and takes deep breaths and waits for them to get bored.

“Hey! If you wanna get beat up so bad, I’ll do it!”

Gorou startles, his tail jerking and ears perking, as an older boy glares at- not him . At the soldiers . What in celestia’s name?

“Stay out of this kid, we’re just teaching this dog some valuable lessons.” One of the officers warns, crossing his arms, and it’s when he turns to face the new comer that Gorou sees him too.

And then, he thinks he maybe understands. The boy has horns on his head, so maybe this is personal for him, except they aren’t turning on him at all. It’s confusing.

“He’s just like the rest of us, dumbass. Now come here so I can beat you up!” The interloper cries again, fists clenched at his sides and red eyes glaring with determination.

Gorou thinks he might me a little insane.

It’s even more insane when the boy beats every single one of them, and then looks down at Gorou, more than a foot shorter than him already, and holds out a hand.

“They were jerks, but I’ll look out for you now. I’m Arataki Itto!”

Does he yell everything he says? Probably. Gorou just rolls his eyes. He would have been fine, probably, if he’d continued on patiently waiting it out, but he isn’t able to stop his tail from wagging quickly enough for Itto not to notice.

“I’m Gorou. Just Gorou.”

“Oh, so you’re like a refugee? Where from? Hey, how much can you eat?”

He’s pretty sure a dog joke is coming, but he answers anyway, ignoring the questions he hasn’t got answers to. “I have a small appetite.”

“Oh.” Itto frowns forlornly. “I’m never going to have my epic eating contest, then.”

It wasn’t a dog joke. Gorou bites his lip to stop a smile and finally takes the hand that Itto is still holding out.

…

Gorou’s family moves, in the end. Itto’s actions per the course of the next few weeks have only exacerbated the problem, and when his mother finds him half way down the dusty path home, bruised and beaten and chained to a tree, she doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t even get to say goodbye, in the end, because Mama is so terrified of what will happen if they stumble across the wrong people on the way out. He’s pretty sure she’s scared someone will kill him. He’s surprised to find he isn’t that scared of it himself, he’s just tired.

He is however, sad that he won’t get to see Itto again. It was the closest Gorou had ever come to having a friend. Ichirou, Nirou, Sanrou and Shirou watch him carefully the entire journey, as though one chain could change their youngest brother’s strong resolve so easily.

…

Watatsumi island is like a whole new world. There are a lot of children like him there, not with his exact features, but similar. He thinks one of them looks a bit like that photo his penpal sent him, so he concludes they must be  at least a close species. Ichirou, already on the edge of eighteen, becomes an apprentice with the local alchemist. Nirou and Sanrou, the twins, decide that that sounds incredibly boring, and join the closest thing to an adventurers guild that Watatsumi has to offer, they’re especially excited knowing that a lot of commissions come from the real thing, back in Inazuma City. Shirou finds work as a writer, surprisingly, as he’s never seemed all that creative to Gorou, but then again, his brothers act differently with him. Doting, protective, yet…just a bit exclusive.

But then, there is the young Miss. He finds her underneath a shell awning, below the big palace looking place, and his first thought is, pretty . He really likes pretty things, and she truly is that. She’s close to his age, or at least not much older, and her peachy hair is cut short to her shoulders but there’s a strange tinge of blue to the ends that matches the sparkle of her eyes. Yes, she is very pretty, and Gorou wants to be her friend very, very badly.

“Why are you hiding?” He asks softly, and she stays strangely dignified even as he startles her in her squat in the dark. She eyes him for a moment, and then she smiles.

“Wanna come in?” She asks, and his tail shakes and for once, someone laughs about it because they like it. “Oh, that’s really cute.”

Gorou blushes bright red, but crawls into the space beside her. “I can’t help it,” he mumbles.

“That’s okay. You wanted to know why I’m hiding, right?”

He nods.

She grins and lifts a hand, and within seconds a beautiful creation appears, just a small fish, happily swimming along in the air. It drops a kiss on his cheek. “I’ve been in three meetings already today,” She explains softly, “And I think, sometimes, they forget I’m just nine.” With a sigh, the fish disappears. “How old are you?”

“Im six,” Gorou answers, even as his brows furrow, “Why are you in meetings?”

The girls eyes widen in surprise. “Oh!” She holds a hand to her mouth and giggles, “I suppose I didn’t introduce myself, how impolite of me.” She muses, “I’m Sangonomiya Kokomi, the heir of the Sangonomoya clan and training to become divine priestess.”

Gorou stares at her for a long time. Well, she is strangely ethereal, like those pearls he sometimes sees. Does that make something divine? He isn’t sure. “I’m Gorou.”

She smiles at him then, something soft and sweet and it makes his tail wag, which he attempts to stop only for her to put her hand up.

“Why do you do that?” She asks softly, “Why don’t you be yourself? Your honest self?”

What a loaded question. If only she knew. So he tells her, about what happened before he moved. About yachi, his brothers, and his penpal, and the chain around his neck. She looks thoroughly distressed through the whole thing and then crosses her arms.

“Well, none of that will happen here.” She says, “And I’m so sorry that it ever did. I’ll make sure this is the best place you’ve ever been, Gorou. We’re going to be best friends.”

He’s shocked by the declarations, but he can see in her eyes that she is sincere in each one.

…

Kokomi takes her place as high priestess at sixteen years old. Gorou, just thirteen, isn’t supposed to be allowed near someone so divine, but the clan make exceptions because Kokomi is adamant, and Gorou is training to lead their forces, so what can they do?

Kazuha and Tomo are an unforeseen hurricane of thunder, appearing every now and then just to ‘hang out’ as Tomo puts it, and to ‘Take in the scenery and compose something unique’ as Kazuha puts it. Gorou becomes too attached, too quickly, and when news reaches watatsumi of the tragedy of Tomo’s death, and Kazuha’s escape, he takes it far harder than he ever could have imagined.

The resistance had already been established, but Tomo and Kazuha hadn’t been by between then and the incident, and Gorou feels- no, he knows , in his heart, that Kokomi could have talked some sense into Tomo, the only person who could have. He can only imagine how Kazuha must feel, for how can anyone ever replace someone that special to their heart?

It would be one thing, to lose Kokomi, Gorou thinks, his sister, his best friend, his everything, but to lose the love of his life, if he had one? No. No, Gorou can’t fathom it. It is in that moment, he decides he will never, ever fall in love.

Kokomi laughs when he tells her, but her eyes are still wet from crying and she’s got photographs and old Kamera’s lying on her bed, all variations of pictures of the four of them. All of them with Tomo included. Gorou feels sick.

“You won’t…you won’t leave the island too much, will you?” He asks, even though he’s planning to do exactly that, with his own battalion, in less than a few days. He doesn’t want another person who only exists in memories and Kameras.

Kokomi takes a long breath, her hair far longer than when she was just a child, and she looks Gorou in the eye, and says, “I will do everything I can to protect the people I care about. If I lose my life doing so, then so be it.”

Gorou swallows, and then holds his fist to his chest in solidarity, unity, a promise. “Then I will do the same. Everyone who steps onto the battlefield must be willing to take that sacrifice for our cause. The reign of the Shogun will end, and we will see to it.”

Kokomi’s eyes glisten, and she nods, determined. “Every step of the way,” she says, in that soft sweet voice, “And if we lose each other,” she adds a moment later, sounding forlorn, “We will always find each other in the next life. Our spirits are whole, together, Gorou. Don’t ever forget that.”

He feels strangely unsteady in that moment, even as he nods, and kneels before her. “As your general, I won’t let you down. As your best friend, and greatest devotee, I will keep you in my heart even if you aren’t in this world with me.”

There’s a bronze hue that fills the room for just one blinding moment, and when Gorou looks down at the sudden weight in his hands, and sees his brand new geo vision, his resolve intensifies. The other Archons are on their side, they must be.

Kokomi however, spends way too much time gushing over it.

…

Kazuha shows up soaking wet, his hand bandaged and a masterless vision held in it, his expression lost. Kokomi isn’t here, she’s in Bourou Village, taking her own time to personally rally the troops, her own people, showing their leader is just as involved as they are, so Gorou is left to greet him alone. Teppei is heaving cargo, with the help of Kaida. They’re his best men, his friends, even. But he cannot simply leave Kazuha here, even with Kokomi. The thing is, Tomo had always been closer with Kokomi than Gorou, and Gorou had always shared a quiet understanding with Kazuha. He doesn’t think it would be good for Kazuha to be alone here right now, especially with Kokomi’s frequent expeditions for resources and boosting morale, even if she’s still on the island.

So he takes the boy’s uninjured hand, and he says, “Come with us.”

Kazuha doesn’t need to say anything at all, he just turns and follows Gorou’s comrades, silent in a way that Gorou has never witnessed before. This isn’t contemplation, or composing, or even just drifting, this is…emptiness. Is this what it is like losing someone so close to you? Gorou remembers, Kokomi once saying that their aim was to hit the enemy hard, while minimising casualties. Gorou feels that now, more than ever. None of his brothers had joined the resistance, and while Gorou can understand it, he wonders if they don’t fear for him, fighting in such a hopeless battle. They don’t write often, but when they do, it’s always reminders to stay steady and focused and on guard. Perhaps, this is why.

They set up on the island by Taratsuna, because screw the lightning there, and claim the Kujou Encampment their own.

Kazuha, as always, is willing to fight. To take orders without question, to protect and attack and care, even in this state.

Gorou both adores him and is devastated just looking at him all at once. Kazuha used to tease Gorou, about how he would go wild in fights, like a fox on a particularly playful hunt, but now no flowery words leave soft spoken lips, only quiet companionship and a greatefulness to Gorou simply for being alive.

It isn’t fair. It isn’t right. It isn’t kind.

So, Gorou writes to Kokomi. He explains his reasoning, his hopes, his love for his dear friend and why despite Kazuha’s strength and devotion, this just isn’t a place that he can heal.

Kokomi sends a very loud, very boisterous woman, who adorns an eyepatch, an insanely big claymore that has the strangest likeness to a fish, and writes that this is the woman who will heal Kazuha’s heart.

Gorou isn’t so sure about it. She triggers something, this Beidou, some niggling memory in the back of his mind, of someone else who was just as boisterous and loud but kind. It’s just too difficult to remember, and far from a priority right now.

Kazuha‘s farewell breaks Gorou’s heart, but he stands strong and steadfast as he allows one of his only remaining best friends and siblings in arms to ruffle his ears for what could be the last time, and tell him in those familiar, charmingly poetic words, to live his truth and follow his heart after this is over.

Privately, though devoted Gorou is, he thinks they may never beat the shogun. Still, he agrees, holds Kazuha close, and tells the Pirate very firmly to take her best care of his brother in all but blood.

Strangely, she takes the word of a short, skinny shiba hybrid with all the significance and dedication owed to him as General, despite their cultural differences.

Gorou thinks Kokomi might very well be right about this, especially when she sees Beidou ruffle Kazuha’s hair and practically shove him on board the ship, much to the wandering samurai’s bewilderment.

Yeah, this could work.

After that, it’s like everything suddenly comes to a head. After a few weeks, almost a month, an outlander from another land comes to their camp, they don’t make any promises, but they pledge theirselves to the cause even after he explains the risks. It makes his heart feel hope again, for the first time since news of the Shogun’s army pushing them back yet again.

They fight the first battle to take back Nazuchi Beach. Kazuha returns with Beidou, but something has shifted in his heart, when Gorou calls out to him, Kazuha’s returning smile is genuine . His eyes aren’t empty, not anymore. There is no ignoring the way he defers to Beidou either, the two working in tandem like Mother and Child. Gorou thinks they just might be, now.

They win.

He sends letters to his brothers, his mother too, and Kokomi holds him tight, though not as tight as Kazuha, when they’re all three alone in a tent, reunified for the first time in too long, none of them ignoring the absence of their lost friend, instead honouring him with their victory.

“Thank you,” Kazuha says at one point, when things have gone quiet. He’s looking up at the tear in the tent ceiling. “I think that what Captain Beidou has given me was exactly what I needed.”

Kokomi smiles. “I thought she might be. She told me once,” She begins, almost thoughtful, “‘I always wanted children, but my job is dangerous and I love what I do’, and I just thought, well, Kazuha isn’t exactly defenceless, and maybe he could sooth those rough edges she has.”  Ever the strategist, Gorou admires, once again finding himself impressed by her kind heart and clever mind.

“I think she’s good for you too,” Gorou agrees, and Kazuha reaches out and squeezes his hand. “You always wanted parents, right?”

Kokomi looks mildly surprised at that, so maybe Kazuha hadn’t mentioned it to her. It worked out anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Kazuha’s light flush is enough to prove his earlier assumption and confirm his point at the same time.

“Ah, yes, well.” Kazuha, for once, caught off guard. Gorou and Kokomi share a laugh. “She certainly takes the pain left behind by shattered memories and tempers them, allowing me to reminisce whilst still sowing the seeds for new escapades and adventures to fill my heart.”

And there’s their Kazuha. Archons, Gorou has missed him so.

“She’s your mom.” Gorou just says, only because he kind of likes flustering Kazuha, on the rare occasion that he can. They all, always have to keep vigilant, strong, sturdy. All of the time. Sometimes, it’s nice to just be some friends in a tent.

Kazuha’s cheeks are still that pretty red as Kokomi covers her giggles with her mouth and Gorou smirks a bit.

“I…I would very much desire for that to be true.” He admits softly. “Though I do not know her sentiments, towards myself.”

Kokomi just smiles, a soft secret thing, as she takes Gorou’s rations because she knows he has a small appetite and won’t finish them. “She writes me letters. She wants very much to keep you. I believe the Captain has grown very fond of you, Kazuha. I wouldn’t doubt myself so much, if I was the kind of person you are.”

Both boys protest adamantly, different variations of praise of her convictions, passion, kindness. It’s all the same. In the end, it’s just a conversation in a tent, but in that moment, it means absolutely everything to Gorou.

When Beidou collects Kazuha, giving both Kokomi and Gorou head pats as if she’s their mother too, he is again reminded of that niggling feeling of lost memories, but she just waves them off when they thank her for looking after Kazuha, and looks at him fondly when she says, “He’s a strong kid. Just gotta feed and water him.” And then proceeds to embarrass the young samurai by giving him a tight hug that can’t possibly be comfortable. Again, that feeling- Gorou must be going insane. “And give him a fuckin’ shitload of love. Kid needs it!”

Kazuha looks embarrassed but pleased all the same, grinning as he says his temporary goodbyes this time, because they’ll be fighting again soon. This could be the last time they’re all together. The thought of it makes Gorou feel sick, but one look at Kokomi and he knows she’s thinking the same thing.

He holds his fist to his chest. The rest mirror him, even Beidou.

…

Teppei is acting strange. Gorou knows there’s something going on, but Teppei is surprisingly close lipped about it, and concern wells in the hybrid general’s chest. Surely, if it’s something so important, Teppei would know he could come to him, right? That he would help?

Either way, he sends the recommendation letter Teppei asks for to Kokomi.

He wishes he didn’t.

Kokomi’s letter back only a few weeks later makes him shut himself In his office, and he cries, weeps for a man who was not only his comrade, but his friend. It takes him days to recover, before he realises that now, he’ll have to tell the others.

It is an incredibly painful week.

It is an ache in his heart that he already knows will never leave, only lessen over time.

…

He sees the moment that Kazuha sees Baal, and it is that moment, that Gorou’s heart breaks.

He isn’t expecting it to mend itself seconds later, when Tomo’s vision lights itself and he lends his power to his living lover, and Gorou thinks, just for a second, that he might have heard Tomo’s voice, too.

When Kazuha falls back, it doesn’t matter. The look on his face, the pride, the way he valiantly protected, saved his new friend from Tomo’s fate, it all shows on his face. Gorou helps him up, and he knows that Kazuha has finally, fully, made peace with Tomo’s passing.

The remaining battle is swift and when it is over, Gorou, teeth still bared, tail still wagging from the excitement, isn’t sure what in the world to do with himself.

Kazuha, Kokomi and Gorou hold each other for a long time, the silence enough to convey the relief and victory and incredible joy that they share.

After, Beidou asks him if he wants to get drinks, apparently she, Kazuha, a few of the crew mates, the traveler (are they even old enough to drink?) and a bunch of the soldiers are going hard tonight.

He searches out Kokomi, but she is standing with Kujou Sara, of all people, as well as a girl he recognises as Kamisato Ayaka, that very helpful Thoma man that he believes is her housekeeper (for a housekeeper, he sure is great at well…everything. Especially when it comes to charisma.) and the fireworks girl.

He probably shouldn’t interrupt them.

Except fireworks girl breaks off from the others after a moment of him just standing there, foolish, feeling very much as though he’s lost one of his only two purposes in life. Destroy the vision hunt decree, and Devote his life to being Sangonomiya Kokomi’s best asset, and best friend.

“Yo!” The greeting is familiar. Painfully so. Archons, what is that memory thats getting the best of him all the time? “You look like someone who has absolutely no idea what to do next!” Her voice is bubbly, and there’s no malice there at all. She smiles at him brightly, hands behind her back as she swings to the side to get a better view of his face. She is, after all, yet another person who is taller than him. “Me? I just said something kind of offensive to Sara. I’ll get Thoma to apologise on my behalf latter, heh!”

Her grin is almost blinding, but he finds his ears perk just a bit at the friendliness, and she’s surprisingly perceptive.

“I’m…not sure what to do,” He agrees, “But why make your friend apologise?” He gestures towards Thoma, even if he can guess the answer based on what he knows of the housekeeper already.

“Well that won’t do,” She tells him plainly, folding her arms over her chest. She’s not exactly loud, but she does have an amount of energy that is inconceivable to someone like Gorou. “First things first, Thoma apologises because I always manage to make things worse,” She giggles, no sign of embarrassment whatsoever, “And secondly, when was the last time you did something fun? Like, really fun?”

He blinks. He…he can’t think of anything recent, not since Kokomi established the resistance and he pledged his heart and soul and very existence to the cause, and he doesn’t think that night in the tent, all of an hour it had lasted, counted in the way the girl means.

“I don’t know,” He answers, completely honestly. “But…” He figures it can’t hurt to do this, Kokomi and Kazuha both seem to be having a good time doing their own things, and he’s sure that they’ll make plans of their own in the next few days when things have settled down again. He’d like to go shell sliding down the waterfalls of  Watatsumi Island with the two of them again soon. It won’t be the same without Tomo, but perhaps they could bring some wheat with them. He was always chewing the stuff, and weirdly aggressive if you tried to pluck it from his mouth. Yeah, that’ll be a good tribute.

“…yes?” The girl prompts, and Gorou startles, ears flickering and tail jerking as he realises he’d wandered off into his daydream. She giggles at this, but like with Kokomi that first time, she just seems to find it cute. For some reason. He still doesn’t get it.

“Well, you seem like you know what kind of things would be fun to do.” He explains, a little embarrassed that he has no ideas of his own when it comes to recreation, “I don’t drink though, and I don’t eat a lot, so bars and baikingu aren’t something I’m really interested in.”

The girl pouts and drops a fist into her palm. “Darn! I have a friend who would have loved an eating contest tonight. Agh, that’s fine, lemme think.”

Again, that niggling feeling. What is he forgetting? He’s beginning to think he’s losing his mind.

“Okay! What about fireworks?” She asks, but the way she asks makes it sound like she’d just been pretending to think, because she’s leaning into his space with big, eager, hopeful eyes and well, he’s only seen them once when he was a kid.

“Okay.”

“Yes!” She pumps a fist in the air, and then goes one step further by jumping up and pumping both fists alternately, “Yes, yes!!”

He doesn’t quite startle but his ears flatten for just a second against the volume. He thinks Beidou ( Was it only Beidou? Who…who was it?) has adjusted him to loud people.

It’s not until they’re sitting on a cliff side, the blonde excitedly setting up fireworks, when she freezes, jolts, and then looks at him with wide, horrified eyes.

“Oh my gosh,” She gasps, “This whole time I didn’t introduce myself! Oh, man, I’m so bad at being normal. I’m Naganohara Yoimiya, but you can just call me Yoimiya, Kay? Jeez, how rude of me. At least that stupid oni introduces himself.”

Why…why does that sound so familiar?

“That’s okay,” Gorou says, because he hadn’t introduced himself either, though he thinks that’s more because he’s maybe been in shock this whole time that the war is over. He’s usually far more level headed then to go to a cliff side with a complete stranger, that’s for sure. “I’m Gorou. Our family doesn’t have a family name, we immigrated. They never told me where from, though.”

Yoimiya beams. “Oh, that’s easy! I have a friend who used to be super interested in Shiba hybrid origins, and most of them come from Sumeru. Ugh, not to try and explain your own heritage to you or anything!!” She waves her hands defensively, looking defeated. “I’m really kind of a lot for most people, I’m sorry.”

But Gorou doesn’t understand why she should have to apologise when he just told her he didn’t know. He doesn’t understand why she talks so self deprecatingly either. If she has something so say, and she’s earnest (and it seems like she is) he thinks she’d be a great person to be around. He considers his own interactions with people over time and concludes that people just must not have the patience for her. Well, except maybe the Kamisato girl, they seem really close.

“I actually always wished I knew,” Gorou begins softly, and smiles at her as best he can in his state of continuously swirling emotions. “Thank you, Yoimiya. Thank you very much. If you know anything else about it, I would appreciate hearing it. And I really can’t think of a singe thing you’ve done wrong tonight. At least when it comes to my own interactions with you.”

It takes a moment, and then Yoimiya’s looking at him in a way that takes him back to being six years old, finding a strange blonde girl under a shell awning. He can’t help himself from smiling at her, and she smiles back, though hers is three times as big and a thousand times as enthusiastic.

“Well, sure!” She enthuses, “My friend knows a whole lot about it, actually, that’s really the only part I know, I have a hard time focusing, you know? Some things I remember, others not so much, but he knows a lot of stuff about Shiba hybrids. I asked him once, you know, why are you so interested in this? And he said the weirdest thing to me,” She leans in conspiratorially, “He said, he was going to marry one one day. He even said he already knew which one, he just didn’t know how to find him. Isn’t that the cutest thing ever?”

It is, surprisingly endearing, especially since Gorou may have jumped the arrow and assumed it might be a fetish thing when Yoimiya had leaned in so secretively.

“That’s really sweet,” He agrees, amused. “You know, it’s funny actually, because I always thought I’d marry a hybrid too.” It’s funny, because they’re so incredibly rare that finding another on Inazuma that isn’t related to him would be impossible.

“Oooh?!” Yoimiya perks right up, “Have you met them yet? What kind of hybrid?”

He blinks. Right. What kind? He’d always just left that open, but he doesn’t know. There are so few kinds, and so few in general, but he’d always known he didn’t belong with someone who didn’t know what it was like.

“I’m not sure.”

Right before she lights the fuse, a fair distance from the set up and bow string pulled back to shoot the lighting fuse, she eyes him wistfully. “Ah, my friend, that same one we were talking about right? He’s a hybrid. It’s too bad he’s already got someone in mind, huh?” She says, and Gorou is far too distracted by the clashing and splashes of colour and shapes in the sky to even have taken in what she’d said.

….

He, Kazuha, and Kokomi spend lunch together at the tea house. Thoma stops in to say hello, but he seems to understand that this a moment that is just their own, as he leaves after that brief polite greeting.

It’s embarrassing that both Gorou and Kokomi cry. Kazuha doesn’t, and Gorou thinks that may be because he has grieved so much this last year that he has no tears left; but they are still as emotional as each other as they celebrate coming through the end of this all alive, healthy and in one piece. If Kokomi pours an extra shot for Tomo, on a place setting that Gorou himself had set up, Kazuha does not call them out on it.

Kokomi does however give him a letter from Teppei, for him to read later on, that he had supposedly written when it had been close to his time. Gorou isn’t sure he’ll ever have the nerve to read it, but if he must, he’ll have Kokomi read it to him. It is the least he owes Teppei for not seeing, not noticing before it was too late.

They eat and drink (Gorou drinks lavender melon milk) and they talk, and it is as close to old times as it possibly could be, When Kokomi pauses tentatively and says,

“I was wondering,” Her voice cautious, gaze avoiding her brothers’, “If you two might be interested in a..gathering of sorts. I seem to have made a few friends, some that Kazuha and I have in common, actually, and I thought, perhaps-“

“Who is it?” Gorou knows his voice is hard, but is Kokomi seriously about to suggest inviting someone like- like the Raiden Shogun or something? He knows she’s supposedly nice now, how wonderful for her, she still murdered Tomo. Just because she was having an identity crisis. Tomo is gone because one person who happened to be a God, had a mid life crisis. A senseless death. There is nothing he can respect about her, whether the traveler says she truly has a kind heart or not. He also doesn’t care that Tomo induced the duel. He. Just. Doesn’t. Care.

He can see his own reaction mirrored on Kazuha’s face, though his is more subdued.

“Kujou Sara?” Kokomi speaks, and both boys deflate in relief before almost instantly tilting their heads in confusion, hilariously in tandem.

“Sara?” Gorou repeats, because he’s battled her enough times that they are on a first name basis. Sort of. “You…want to hang out with the Raiden Shogun’s right hand woman?”

Kazuha however, smirks into his clay cup and takes a sip, to prevent what Gorou thinks might have been going to be a laugh.

What? What is he missing?

“Well, she didn’t actually know the whole truth,” Kokomi begins nervously; and Gorou doesn’t think he’s ever heard her nervous before. “And see, she actually really admires you, Gorou,”

Oh, no. “Koko-chan,” He hasn’t called her that since they were children, but he thinks perhaps she’s lost her memory, “I have no taste for women.”

Kazuha snorts his drink up his nose and frantically wipes up the mess with cloth as Kokomi just stares at him like somehow he’s the fool.

“Sometimes a flower blooms in a war,” Kazuha explains, when he’s calmed down. And then, after a long moment, he adds pointedly, “A lesbian flower.”

Oh. Well, yes, now he does feel like a fool. But…really? “You and Sara?”

“It just felt right.” Kokomi murmurs, watching him for a reaction with hopeful eyes. “Do you understand?”

“No,” He admits, but before she can deflate, “That doesn’t mean I am not happy for you, though. You, of all people, deserve someone to love and to be loved. Even if that’s…romantic…with Sara. ” He means it, and he doesn’t dislike Sara or anything, it’s just…how were they going to interact now, without fighting for their lives? Kokomi said Sara admires him, and truthfully he admires her spirit and devotion to her cause, but for so long now he’s been preparing himself to kill her.

“Time has a habit of swaying the fixity of purpose, furthermore in circumstances that set about so…regrettably.”

Gorou takes a moment to decipher Kazuha before he sighs and nods his understanding. “I…for you, your excellency,” and he is purposeful with the title, because he wants her to know that just because the resistance is nothing more than recovery effort now, the respect has not changed one bit, “I will become Kujou Sara’s friend.”

Kazuha laughs again, and Gorou considers smacking his friend. He’s not even the one who talks in riddles and poems and flowery composites, how is it that he’s the one being made fun of?

Kokomi giggles too, and Gorou sighs. He is the only truly sensible one here. If you ignore every single time he’s stepped into battle. Over eager may be an understatement, in those circumstances. “That is heartening to hear, my dear General Gorou.” She says, and though it’s sincere there’s far too much mirth to it. “Anyway, I always wondered…is there someone you like?”

Is there someone he likes? For some reason, all he can think of, is a hand reaching for his from above, and a loud booming voice declaring him to be safe. But it’s a memory he hasn’t got full access to, and he knows he must’ve been a child since his hands were so small. In the end, he shakes his head.

“No, not for me.”

…

Yoimiya makes it a habit to invite him into the city while he’s stationed there - and he’s surprised by this, until Kokomi reminds him that neither side trusts each other yet. Then, it makes perfect sense, because nobody here can harass Gorou for being a hybrid without risking the peace, and Gorou can make new friends. She’d been adamant about that one.

She even wrote Kujou Sara’s address on one of his packs in thick black ink. It’s going to look like he stole her belongings, if anyone sees it. So, out of sheer pettiness, he decides to put off re-meeting Sara, and spends his first couple of days wandering the city with curious eyes, Kokomi’s Sangonomiya Clan emblem carefully fixed to his shoulder so nobody would mess with him. He finds himself proud, prouder than he ever thought he could be of himself as a child, after being first general in a winning war. It feels like…in a way, he’d taken those things the people did to him as a child, and thrown them in the face. He feels free.

Look at me, look at what I’ve achieved. What have you done?

It’s probably very petty. Either way, he allows himself to feel it. Like Kokomi said. Like Yoimiya said. Just, feel it.

Of course,  he knows when he has crossed paths with Yoimiya because the unholiest of shrieks fills the street and he’s suddenly got a much taller, much heavier ball of firework merchant wrapped around him, legs and all.

“Gorou!! I never thought I’d see you around here!” She’s practically yelling in his ear, but he grins, fangs beared because even if they might want to, nobody can do a damn thing about it with that crest on his arm. He returns the hug much more calmly, and lets her drop back down when she’s ready.

Her fists are clenched in front of her chest and she’s practically bouncing in place. “It’s good to see you too, Yoimiya.”

“Ohmygosh,” She squeals a little bit, “You have to meet my Dad, come on,”

So he gets trailed around a bit, meeting people here and there, and gets the impression that the people here are fairly divided on Yoimiya. Some seem to adore her, while others look like they’re just waiting for her to be quiet. He doesn’t like those kinds of people one bit, and when Yoimiya isn’t looking, he bares his teeth at them and enjoys the way they flinch. Archons, it’s nice to be a war hero. Not that he is one, not to himself, but he is labelled one and now he can be as protective as he wants.

Yoimiya is especially worked up when they get to a house on the outskirts, “Oh wow, okay, whew,” She psyches herself up, “I may have talked you up a little?” She turns apologetic eyes on him; and then flushes, “okay, like, a lot, but nobody else but he and Ayaka listen to me the way you do! You let me finish everything I wanna say, and you don’t interrupt, and you’re always interested, and you…I mean I think you do…” she trails off, suddenly frowning, and Gorou places an arm on her shoulder reassuringly.

“What is it?”

She bites her lower lip. “I mean, you like me, right? Like we’re friends? Or you’d want to be friends with me? A lot of people think…” she trails off, so Gorou is almost certain this doesn’t count as interruption when he says,

“I don’t care what a lot of people think. I like you, and we’re friends.”

He doesn’t say anything about the way her hands shake a little bit when she smiles at him. “See? So…so there’s nothing to worry about. It’s just uh, my friend has this habit of beating people up when they’re mean to me. And he kinda thought maybe you were messing with me, because usually people don’t take to me that fast.”

Gorou blinks. “Oh.” Well, she has a good friend then, and he isn’t messing with Yoimiya, so it should be fine, but even if it isn’t, well…Gorou’s fairly secure in his ability to defend himself without harming the poor guy who just wants to defend his friend’s honour. “That’s okay.”

Yoimiya knocks, still bouncing on her feet, and then the door opens and -

Oh no.

Gorou’s heart feels like it just fucking ascended out of his body because he is just straight up, face to face, with the most perfectly sculpted chest in the entirety of Teyvat. His head doesn’t even reach the very top of the man’s shoulders.

It’s Yoimiya who clears her throat, and he blushes the darkest red he ever has in his life. What the hell is that about? He’s never been interested in anyone in more than a passing, two second look before!

“Yo!” The voice is loud, so loud, that Gorou thinks the guy’s chest must rumble with it, oh archons, what in Celestia’s name is- it’s just -

Big .

He manages to hold in the whimper and finally, he looks up, only to freeze in place completely. The guy is probably the most handsome man ever, sure, but he’s…he’s got horns. He’s a hybrid. An oni, Gorou thinks, and something about him is so familiar but he just can’t put his finger on it.

The guy seems to have frozen too, because it takes Yoimiya clearing her throat a second time before they both snap out of it, somehow only Gorou comes out of it with red cheeks and  ears that are pointing forward. Hopefully nobody knows what that means.

“Have we met?” Gorou asks, and he doesn’t even mean to, it’s just…this familiarity is the same one that’s been bugging him for a while.

Red eyes widen a fraction, before the (much) bigger man slowly shakes his head. “Nope. No. Never. We have met never. ” His voice is still loud, but something about it must catch Yoimiya’s attention because her eyes go wide and she covers her mouth with one hand while frantically pointing at Gorou with the other.

What in celestia’s name?

“Oh.” Gorou frowns. “I thought…hm.”

This seems to perk the guy right up again though, and his whole body seems to move with his gestures as he speaks. “But any friend of Yoimiya is a friend of mine!”

Gorou blinks and looks back at the still freaking out Yoimiya. He should probably be alarmed by all of this, but again, he was a general in the resistance. He’s seen it all.

“I’m Gorou, no last name, I’m an-“

“Immigrant, right?!”

Gorou jumps. Yes, it’s a loss of composure that he did not expect. Yes, he’s a little bit embarrassed. But see, the thing is, big man hot. You see? You see the problem now? Yeah. Of course he’s not as in control of his reactions as usual.

“Yeah,” Yoimiya answers for him, excited now to share her part in this, “He actually didn’t know where he came from, you know? So I told him what you told me, about Shiba hybrids coming from sumeru, and he was really interested in that! We had like, the best night, he let me rig up so many fireworks, and I wasn’t sure if it was too many and they’d just go BAM but it wasn’t and it was really, really pretty.” Yoimiya somehow manages to get most of that out in one breath, and through it all, Itto listens attentively, his smile growing wider by the second, even while Gorou’s falters. She wasn’t sure if she was going to accidentally blow them up?!

He guesses it doesn’t matter now, but maybe next time he’ll sit a little further away from the set up. Even if he’d already been half a cliff away from the last one when it went off. No wonder she lit them from a distance with her bow.

And then that heavy red gaze is on him again. “I can tell you more.” His voice isn’t on the verge of yelling anymore, but it’s nobody’s definition of an inside voice either. Gorou doesn’t find he minds.

“I would appreciate that.” He says honestly, and is a little confused at Yoimiya’s little ‘squee’ sound when Itto’s hand touches Gorou’s shoulder. Although it is…interesting, that he has to reach down so far to do it. And that his hand practically swallows Gorou’s shoulder. It makes him feel some type of way, something foreign but not. He will say it doesn’t feel like he’s being treated like a child though, like he sometimes had when someone bigger did something similar growing up.

It’s just. Weird.

Yoimiya looks between the two of them and  then lets put a very obviously fake frown.

“I! Am! So! Tired!” He might believe her if she wasn’t exaggerating each word, down to the syllable. “Itto, can you look after Gorou for me? I’m so so so so so sorry Gorou, I just really need a nap, y’know? Okay off I go sleepy time!”

She’s gone before he can even open his mouth, bewildered, but Itto’s chest is heaving hard from his own laughter. He laughs a lot. Gorou likes that, even if he himself doesn’t laugh much. The only issue is…couldn’t he put on a shirt, or something? It’s really distracting.

“You wanna come in, Gorou?” Itto asks, beaming at him brightly and still, still there is something so familiar about him, but Gorou just nods. Itto uses the hand on his shoulder to guide him in, and Gorou takes the chance to glance around. If he didn’t already trust him because he’s Yoimiya’s friend, he would after seeing the inside of his home. Renditions ranging from absolutely terrible to actual masterpieces of children’s artwork are pinned up, so many they take up half a wall. Some of them have crude signatures, some a message to Itto thanking him or just telling him they like him.

One of them, one of the better art pieces with better drawing, depicts Itto at the top of a cliff, holding an arm up victoriously. The message says ‘-Thank you for getting my pet rock off the ledge. I’m sorry you fell 20 feet and broke your leg. I’m still glad I have Rocky back. Love, Bokuto Koutarou. - 11. P.s my best friend said it was a silly thing to do for a rock, but he says thank you too.’

Gorou looks up at Itto incredulously, like he can’t quite believe a man that would do that is real. And yet, the proof is right there, amongst a bunch of other testimonies, some equally ridiculous. So, this guy has a serious soft spot for kids. Gorou finds himself smiling to himself as he looks away again, taking in the rest of the home quickly. The only other notable things are a photograph of Itto with a bloody, most likely broken nose, holding up a peace sign, while Kujou Sara, further in the background, held onto what - Gorou checks quickly, and yes -  must be Itto’s vision with a sour look on her face. Gorou cannot think of a single reason someone would want to commemorate that. Let alone put up a peace sign and smile.

There’s several photographs of Itto with Yoimiya, too, so many that if he couldn’t see Yoimiya’s crush on Kamisato Ayaka from a mile away, he might assume they were a couple. Then, with a startled jerk of his ears, he realises that most people who visit his home probably think the very same of himself and Kokomi. He’ll hang up a sign. Or something. He does not want anyone to ever think he and his sworn sister are more than that.

“You good?”

Yep, still loud.

“Oh, yes, you just….reminded me of something.” Gorou’s ear, the one closest to Itto, flickers, but he manages to hold of his flush. How is this man flustering him by doing absolutely nothing?

“Something important?” Itto asks, and he sounds genuinely concerned, so Gorou forces an awkward smile and says,

“Ah, no, it’s just, Yoimiya likes Ayaka, right?”

He isn’t expecting Itto’s face to go cold. “Yes.”

“It’s just, there’s a….a rather large amount of kamera pictures of you and Yoimiya, and i realised that I have a rather similar situation in my home. Kamera pictures of my sworn sister and I, you know?” Gorou explains hurriedly, and is surprised by how quickly the man’s face warms back up.

“Oh, is that all?” He grins, and oh…those…those fangs are bigger than his own. No, stop it stop it stop it. “Yeah, I used to worry people would think that we were together too, but now that we’re both publicly out as gay, nobody questions it anymore. It’s a huge relief, people are so insistent that men and women just can’t be friends, you know?”

It’s the most Itto has said to him so far, and Gorou finds himself getting more and more worked up as he speaks, nodding in agreement eagerly. “Yes! And then they think you’re trying to overthrow the government by seducing the divine priestess into doing your own will!” He scowls, tail thrashing and fists clenched at the memory of every. Single. Damn. Time. That people suggested that.

“Um.” Itto stares at him with wide eyes, but he looks incredibly amused. “You’re a little confused, but you’ve got spirit!” He pats Gorou on the head and he does not melt. His tail does wag though, which Itto’s eyes flicked to with a strange amount of satisfaction.

“Sorry,” Gorou winces, “I…I don’t know if you knew but I was first general in the resistance. Her excellency and I have been sworn siblings since we were children, when I first moved to Watatsumi as a child,” He explains, feeling just a little more steady when he sees the curious and incredibly interested way Itto is watching him. “She was dodging her responsibilities and I was…lonely. I had just lost a friend, I think. It’s…difficult to remember.” He frowns, yet again, because this strange niggling and forgetful feeling seem to finally be beginning to converge. “We were fast friends. And it wasn’t long before she was my sworn sister. But Sangonomiya Kokomi- that’s her name, I know a lot of the Inazuma city commission soldiers tried to keep it hidden- even the she was already the high priestess of her clan. And I was…”

He’s never spoken this much about his past to anyone who wasn’t Kokomi, Kazuha or…or Tomo, he realises suddenly, but it’s like he can’t stop, he just feels like he can trust Itto. And Itto looks so invested , too.

It could also be considered equivalent exchange for the information about his heritage, Gorou considers analytically.

“Go on, ” Itto prods, when the silence stretches, a frown on those insanely thick eyebrows. “I’m listening.”

Yes, he can definitely see why he and Yoimiya are so close.

“I was a refugee hybrid who distracted the clan heir from her duties and, according to them, had delusions of grandeur, dreams above my ability, and a sick obsession with Kokomi.” He says the last part softly, because while this had only gone on long enough to force both Kokomi and Himself to publically out themselves, it was still a painful memory. One he hadn’t realised was even painful at all.

He chances a glance up and finds Itto stock still, nostrils flares, and red eyes somehow redder. “They said these things about you?”

Gorou shrugs. “It was a long time ago. All I meant to say really was that I’m worried people will think Kokomi and I are in a relationship if they visit my temporary residence here.” He has a very strong feeling that if they’d lingered any further on that topic, Itto was going to fall into some sort of murderous haze. Which is absolutely baffling, but Gorou must have stepped on a potential trigger without warning. He’ll have to ask about that when they know each other just a bit better.

Now though, Itto has a strange smile on his face, as he settles down at his kotatsu, gesturing for Gorou to take the seat to the left of him.

“So, you’re incredibly close, the way Yoimiya and I are.” Itto deduces cheerfully, as he opens a box he keeps on the kotatsu and offers Gorou a cookie. Itto places three in front of himself, but just offers one to him. Gorou frowns. “You look like you’ve got a stomach the size of a pea.”

Gorou scowls but he isn’t wrong, so he takes the single cookie and purposefully bares his teeth and rips into it, in an unusually aggressive display. Itto, however, seems to think this is the funniest thing in the world. He laughs so hard he starts wheezing, and before Gorou can worry that the man will stop

Breathing, he pats his chest a few times and let’s put a deep sigh.

“I am sure you are a fierce warrior on the battlefield,” he breathes, still winded, “But you very much resembled an angry wolf cub just now. Over a cookie .” Cookie seems to be the trigger word for Itto to start laughing again and if he’s honest, Gorou is biting down hard on his own lip now to keep from laughing too. He can’t help the way his ears are twitching and his tail is wagging, though.

“I’ve lost count of how many battles I’ve won,” no he hasn’t.

“I don’t doubt that.”

“I’m the first general in her excellency’s army.”

“An established fact.”

“I could bite through your throat.”

“Oh,” Itto sits back up at this, a micheivious look in his eyes, “Would you like to try?”

And then. Then he just. Bares his throat.

Gorou swallows hard. And then swallows again, because his mouth has gone too dry. Surely, if Itto studied Shiba hybrids, he understood the implications, right? Surely?

Gorou takes a moment to breathe and centre himself. He thinks hard. And then opens his mouth. “Yes.”

Itto blinks. “Huh?” His neck is still bared and that won’t do at all.

“Yes, Kokomi and I are like you and Yoimiya. All four of us in assumed heterosexual relationships, all four of us very much obviously homosexual.”

Itto blinks, and then he snorts and smirks wide. “What makes me ‘obviously’ homosexual?”

Gorou stares him dead in the eye. “You don’t wear a shirt, you’re wearing eyeliner, you’ve got straps….” This is going downhill fast. “Everywhere. Anyway, you get my point. Obvious.”

Itto tilts his head and then says, with an annoyingly cheeky grin. “I’ll accept that. But what makes it so obvious for you? Sure, there’s the eyeliner, but-“

“I’m wearing a crop top that has a single strap to cover both my nipples.” And then he falls silent in horror over his own words. When he sees Itto’s smile again, sly as it is, he scowls. He’d been baiting him! He made him say something embarrassing on purpose. What a jerk.

“That strap is in a precarious position.” Itto agrees, his eyes glued to it now, and Gorou flushes and growls.

“Aren’t you supposed to tell me about Sumeru?”

“Ahn! Yes! Oh, you’ll love this, it’s crazy interesting. Boring as shit reading it, but I always knew this day would come.”

Gorou just folds his hands over his chest and waits.

“Okay, so, the first thing I found out is that Shiba hybrids are actually the result of…”

…

Kokomi regularly checks in with letters. Kazuha sometimes drifts in from the docks, Beidou an occasional add on, and Yoimiya has introduced him properly to Ayaka and Thoma. Sometimes, when he hears Thoma’s name, for a fraction of a second it sounds like Tomo and he forgets, just for a moment. He doesn’t spend a lot of time there, though he won’t admit that’s the reason why.

He crosses paths with Tama in Tenshukaku, while he’s following Itto along on a proper tour of the resettling nation, and he finds himself standing still, stricken, as he watches her paw at a tree.

This had been the very last place he wanted to tour, but it is his duty, and Itto’s offer to accompany him had come with soft, understanding eyes, and so here they were.

Sure, it could be any cat, he isn’t an idiot. But it isn’t. The meow is even the same, the way it begins as a husky whine and ends in a loud yowl, and his heart sinks as he wonders if she’s been here, fending for herself and relying on kind strangers ever since Tomo…ever since then.

Itto frowns at his frozen form. “Ne, you look like someone stole your cute little ears right off your head!” He teases, though Gorou sees a flash of concern as the ridiculously large oni hybrid glances between him and the cat.

Just to be sure, Gorou drops to his knees, opens his arms, and calls, “Tama,”

He feels Tomo’s loss harder than usual when the cat’s ears perk in interest  and she tugs her claws loose from torn bark, only to perk excitedly and then practically tumble over herself to get to him, purring loudly and butting her head into his hand, his chest, his neck.

He feels Itto’s fingers brush underneath his eyes and realises with no shame or embarrassment that he is crying. She’s been all alone, all this time. It’s the last thing Tomo would have wanted, she’s lucky to have survived this long on the good will of the people.

“Oh, Tama,” He murmurs, feeling his heart go out to the small white furball, that has once had a home in the breast of Tomo’s nagagi, as close to one with his heart as she could be.

“Friend of yours?” Itto’s voice is unexpectedly quiet for the first time, and his hand, though it entirely swamps Tama, pets at her with an unexpected gentleness.

“She was a close friend’s pet,” No, she was more than that. A companion, really. It’s too hard to explain though, so he just says softly, “He died here, at the Shogun’s hand, months ago. I had no idea she was here. If I’d known…”

“You would have found a way,” Itto says solidly, as though there is no question, no doubt. “You wouldn’t have left her alone here.”

“I don’t know,” Gorou admits, as he tugs Tama closer, into his lap, listening to her loud purrs with closed, pained eyes. “This…coming for her would have been a death sentence.” He knows, he knows he would have wanted to. Been desperate to. All he can do is thank the archons that Kazuha hadn’t known either, because he wouldn’t have thought twice, and then Gorou would have lost him too.

Itto is quiet for the longest time Gorou has experienced since they met a few days ago, and then, he reaches up, and presses his hand to Gorou’s wet cheek. “I…I don’t think about consequences a whole lot,”

Gorou chokes on a devastated laugh, because neither did Tomo, evidently, before Itto continues, “But, you’re here now. So what will you do?”

Gorou’s eyes shine and he looks up at Itto with wonder. How is it, that he’s able to move so quickly from one solution to another? It also doesn’t help that he seems to be incredibly good with animals, soft and caring with them, Tama allowing his pats generously the way she used to only allow the four of them. Though, that could have been a new development since her abandonment.

“I’ll make it right.”

Itto beams, and archons, his arms flex, Gorou feels dizzy. “That’s my boy.”

He malfunctions, just a bit.

…

Sara stares at him blankly.

Gorou stares back just as blankly.

“Do you want to spar?”

“Yeah.”

Gorou wins, as usual, but this time Sara lets him stay for dinner and gives an impassioned, million year speech about the war, her feelings, and for majority of the time, Kokomi. She falls silent afterwards, looking at her fingernails as though they hold the answers to all the questions in Celestial, and he…Gorou thinks he might understand now. He still doesn’t really like her, but there’s no denying that Kokomi will be incredibly cared for and loved with her, and her words of regret and hope are all sincere.

So he nods at her, holds his hand out, and pretend this is the first time he’s met her as he introduces himself and adds on, “It’s nice to meet my sister’s partner. I hope we have good fortune in the future.”

…

“Awh, man, you fought her? And won? Fight me now!” Itto’s tone is almost whiny, for such a well built, intimidating man, he sure can sulk. Gorou rolls his eyes.

“I fought her because we needed to make things right. I have no quarrel with you.” He states simply, watching from the corner of his eyes as Itto deflates like a cut lantern.

“I think your fangs are really small,” The man says a moment later, completely out of the blue, and Gorou stares at him blankly.

“What?”

“Your fangs. Tiny. Like a kid.”

Oh. If Itto thinks that’s enough to rile Gorou up, he’s sorely mistaken. “Stop acting like a scolded child and help me with the soup,”

Itto groans, “What’s the point of making it if you aren’t going to compete to see who can eat the most of it?”

“Nutrition.” Gorou drawls irritably, “You know, you really do remind me of someone. I just can’t put my finger on it.”

Itto goes still for a moment, opens his mouth, and right before he can speak there are soft arms wrapped around Gorou from behind and peach and ice blue hair tickling at his cheeks, and he’d recognise the scent of dendrobium anywhere.

“Kokomi!” He turns, careful to move the pot with his cloth holders, before turning to bury his face in her neck. It’s not been long, but he’s so glad to see her.

“Gorou,” She greets back just as happily, “I’ve missed you, General.”

He laughs happily and pulls back. “What’s the occasion?”

She blushes a bit, and shyly shrugs a shudder, even as little hydro fish tickle at her fingers, a typical sign of excitement. “I was planning to visit with Sara, and I couldn’t just stop by without visiting you. And I also heard about Tama.”

He nods, and gestures to his left so she can see said cat happily lazing about in the sun, Itto, almost comically large beside her, soaking up the sun as well, leaning backwards with his hands in the grass as he watches them curiously.

Kokomi makes a soft, surprised sound. “Huh. I remember her being smaller. And less muscular. And less shirtless, and tall, and-“

Gorou groans at the joke that Kokomi seems to find incredibly amusing, and even Itto is laughing. It isn’t even that funny, Gorou thinks, but he likes that their first interaction is so positive. He isn’t sure why that’s so important to him.

“Oh, hush,” Kokomi smiles softly, “Who might you be, accompanying my dearest General?” Her tone may be soft and sweet, but she’s definitely sizing Itto up and making her own connections regardless of anything Gorou could interrupt to say.

“I’m Arataki Itto!” And there it is, the blinding grin, the flexed muscles, and the booming of his voice so loud that Gorou’s ears flatten in self preservation. Gorou waits for Kokomi to introduce herself in turn, but pauses when he sees the frown on her face.

“Arataki Itto.” She repeats impassively, and then frowns judgementally at Gorou for some reason. He never knows what he’s done wrong these days. “The gang leader?”

Oh. To be fair, Gorou hadn’t known that. But of course Kokomi would, she has a finger in every single pool of water in these parts lately. Gorou can’t help but feel stupid, as well. He’s supposed to be a general, a strategist, someone who isn’t oblivious to a gang leader, at least. Archons above.

Itto, however, seems unbothered. “Yeah! That’s me.” He agrees cheerfully, “We aren’t that bad, really! You know how many kids people are trying to sell around here?”

Gorou and Kokomi both freeze in place, stunned. “They’re…they’re importing children? ” Kokomi finds her voice first, and she sounds as sickened as Gorou feels.

“Not anymore! You’re welcome, by the way.” He winks at Kokomi, all confidence, though when his eyes turn to Gorou he looks a little less sure of himself. “You good, puppy?”

He should probably feel demeaned by the nickname. He doesn’t. “I’ve never heard of any gang and you better not mention it again.”

Gorou concedes with a sigh, and Itto shoots him a ridiculously enthusiastic thumbs up. “You got it!”

“Kokomi…” Gorou begins quietly, but she just shakes her head before he can even begin to argue his case.

“I haven’t heard anything either.” She affirms softly, and he smiles at her in relief. “But, Gorou, he’s three times your size,” Her addition has no relevance to anything Gorou can think of, so he just blinks at her. She looks from Itto to Gorou again and winces, looking incredibly concerned.

“We both know I could still beat him in battle easily.” Gorou frowns, crossing his arms. Since when has Kokomi had such little faith in him? He ignores the indignant noise Itto makes from where he’s moved to stretch his arms all the way out, sweat glimmering on his chest where the sun hits it. Gorou is mesmerised for just a second, but it doesn’t mean anything. Nope. Itto is waiting for his intended anyway.

Kokomi makes a distressed sound. “That’s really not what I’m worried about,” She bites her lip and then takes his hands, expression surprisingly serious. “Be really careful, okay?”

He gets the feeling they’re still not talking about the same thing, but Itto is laughing quietly to himself so he must know. Gorou would ask, if that didn’t mean probably being forced into a deal for a duel in exchange for the answer.

“…sure.”

Kokomi joins them for soup and then takes Itto aside for what she explains is a quick talk about gang activities, and Gorou can’t do much about that, so he lets them leave and is almost surprised by how pale Itto is when he returns.

“Are you alright?”

“Your sister…” Gorou waits for whatever fearful thing will come next, when suddenly Itto’s lips stretch upwards and he looks at Gorou with soft eyes. “Would have every right to follow through on her threats if I hurt you.”

And then he acts like he didn’t just say something absurd, and slumps his chest over Gorou’s back like a lazy cat, dropping his head on the crown of Gorou’s own. “Wanna have that duel now?”

Gorou groans.

…

Watching Beidou and Itto arm wrestle was the last thing Gorou had been expecting for the day, and Kazuha seems just as bewildered. Yoimiya just cheers wildly, without even picking a side. Ayaka watches her girlfriend with amusement, as she calls out an encouragement to Beidou, just so that Yoimiya will be forced to pick Itto’s side. It’s amusing.

“That’s him?” Kazuha speaks quietly, though there’s a strange judgement to his tone. “That is the one who you see fit to meet your heart’s desire? Truly?”

Oh, so Kazuha can tell Gorou wants to climb that like a tree. He’s always seen right through the hybrid. “That’s your Mom arm wrestling him.” Gorou deflects awkwardly.

Kazuha just turns to fully face him, eyebrows raised. “He’s…considerably sizeable.”

“Why does everyone get so fixated on that?” Gorou grumbles, tail flicking. “Anyway, he doesn’t even want that. We’re friends.”

Kazuha snorts. “Tomo and I were just travelling partners, then.”

“It’s not a lie, Kazu.” Gorou sighs. “He’s been planning his wedding to someone else since he was a kid, okay? My chances are literally minus zero.”

Kazuha just shakes his head. “The way his gaze lingers on you even when he’s immersed in other engagements tells otherwise.”

Gorou buries the hope in his chest swiftly. “He’s a brute, and a himbo, and all he cares about is eating and feeding stray animals and-“

“And you want him.” Kazuha finishes simply, no ornery words needed. “In my humble opinion, whilst I might be wrong, though I doubt it, there isn’t a star in the sky he wouldn’t seek to offer you for just a moment of your admiration.”

That’s…ridiculous. It can’t possibly be true, can it? He’s lost in his storm of thoughts when Yoimiya  drops herself down beside him I’m the stone path, calloused fingers brushing away fallen maple leaves.

“I can’t believe they had a draw,” She muses, “That’s crazy!”

Ayaka just shakes her head as she joins them. “As Thoma likes to say…” she opens her fan to hide her mouth but Gorou doesn’t miss the sneaky smirk, “Itto has rocks for brains. And so, it seems, he may have said about the Captain.”

It’s obvious it’s Ayaka’s own opinion, but nobody calls her on it, Yoimiya giggling like only a lovesick girlfriend can, and Kazuha simply nodding in agreement.

Gorou sighs. “They’re both just competitive, and strong. It’s about pride.”

The others glance at him in surprise- well, not Kazuha, and then Yoimiya is frowning at him hard. “See, this is why I’m confused!” She throws her arms up in exasperation, and Ayaka makes no move to help him, simply humming in agreement. “You know him better than anyone, and all he’s ever cared about is you, so why in Celestia aren’t you two together yet? I mean, don’t tell me you two haven’t even slept together yet? The tension is insane , why are you making him wait?!” Her frustration is palpable, but he thinks he’s getting similar vibes from Ayaka, and That’s when the words catch up to him.

“…waiting for me ?”

And then, it’s like a lock breaks. The first thing he remembers, is pain. His neck is being squeezed so tightly, it feels like the chains are getting tighter, but they can’t be, can they?

And then, Mama.

“Come, Gou-chan. We’re getting as far away from here as we can.”

“But-“ his throat is sore from the chains- “Arataki-“

“Is the reason things got this bad, Gorou. We need to leave now. ”

I’m Arataki Itto!

How much can you eat?

Where are you from?

Wanna race down that mountain and see if we survive? No? You’re always too sensible, Gorou.

I think we’re going to be best friend’s forever, and Im right about a lot of things, you know?!

Hey, do you think I can crush this Lavender Melon with my head?

You’re really small, and I’m big, so I’m gonna get even bigger until I’m so big nothing can ever hurt you again!

We’ll figure out we’re you’re from some day, it can’t be that hard to find. I bet it’s in books. Yuegh. I’ll read them with you if you want, though.

He’d never said goodbye. Sure, it wasn’t a long friendship, something fleeting but powerful, and Gorou realises with a growing pit in his stomach that he’d blocked out everything that led to being chained to that tree. He’d erased Itto entirely, like he was nothing.

But Itto, Itto had done the opposite. Gorou thinks of Sumeru, of expeditions Itto abruptly called off when they met, of the way the man had been almost mesmerised by him from the moment they met.

Itto has been in love with him since he was ten. And Gorou has not had a single memory of him since he was six, until now. He can’t imagine how painful all of this has been on Itto, having the thing he’s spent his life searching for right there in front of him, and doing nothing. Saying nothing.

Why didn’t he say anything?

“I didn’t know. I didn’t remember.” Gorou whispers, horrified, and Yoimiya and Ayaka look over at him in surprise. “I…something bad happened and I blocked everything out from then. I didn’t even know I did it.”

The girls look troubled at this. “If you don’t feel like that for him, you need to set him free. He’s spent his whole life loving you.” Yoimiya says, unusually somber. “Please don’t hurt him too badly. It…it’ll hurt either way, but he’s…he’s got a really sensitive heart. Just, be kind, please.”

Gorou just nods. He doesn’t have a single thing he can think of to say. Kazuha eyes him curiously and he gives the boy a look that tells him he’ll explain later.

…

He wakes up crying, that night. It’s all too much, memories of Itto holding his hand no matter how short the journey, promises made, commission soldiers beaten to hell and back if they so much as gave Gorou a dirty look, and the promise.

Fuck, the promise. Together forever.

Gorou wipes at the tears but it’s no use, they won’t stop, and fuck, he’s been through a war , why is this making his heart feel like it’s shattering? Of course, of course he wants Itto.

He spent the whole time thinking he never had a chance.

He spent the whole time emotionally torturing a man who wanted nothing more than to be his husband. A man who he made such an impression on, that he never quite let it go. That he kept ever single one of their promises, even if Gorou was gone.

And that’s when Gorou knows why Itto didn’t say anything. Because they’re different people, and he’d been chasing a pipe dream, and he hadn’t known where they stood now, as adults. As strangers.

But if Yoimiya is to be believed, those feelings still very much exist and probably hurt Itto every day, and yet the Oni chooses to spend his free time with the one hurting him.

He can’t doubt Itto’s love, not with all of that evidence. He also isn’t foolish enough to pretend it’s one sided. The man is a complete blockhead, a one track mind himbo, sly and sneaky and competitive, refuses to wear a shirt just because he knows he looks good.

Children adore him. Animals seek him out. He cares far too much about absolutely everyone. He’s fiercely protective. He’s funny, and boisterous, and teasing. He holds Gorou like he’s precious, listens attentively, holds him casually whenever he can get away with it. Shit, they even scent each other.

There’s also the fact that he’s more beautiful than anything Gorou’s ever seen.

He doesn’t know how, but he’s going to fix this.

…

He shows up at Itto’s door at a ridiculous hour of the morning, after a long night of restlessness and inability to sleep any longer, and the man answers the door in nothing but sleep pants, Which is the worst case scenario because Gorou is weak damn it.

“Puppy?” Archons, his voice is is even husky from sleep. “Did something happen?”

“No.” Gorou pauses, “Yes.”

“Okay. Okay, what do you need?”

Gorou falls just a little bit deeper. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I forgot. I didn’t mean to, I promise I didn’t mean to, I just blocked it all out after the chain and the tree and archons, I wish I hadn’t but I did,” Gorou’s eyes are wet but he ignores them, and when he looks back up, Itto seems to have woken up to full alertness.

“Gorou, you remember?”

“You were the one thing,” Gorou gets out through emotional, clenched teeth, “The one thing that made life worth living back then. And I forgot .” He laughs, but it’s wet and miserable and he probably looks disgusting but Gorou just shakes his head and drops those big hands to Gorou’s cheeks.

“It’s okay,”

“It’s not okay! You were waiting, all this time you were waiting for me and I didn’t know!”

“I would have waited forever.” Itto says simply, like it’s not at all a big deal, “You we’re always going to be it for me.”

Gorou cries even harder. “You should’ve have had to wait at all, though,” He whispers through tears, “From the moment I met you again, I wanted you. So badly, so much, but I forgot. So I didn’t even know it was me. I ruined everything.”

Itto is silent for a moment. “Do you still want me?”

Gorou nods so hard his brain must shake in his head. “I want to spend every day with you. I want to tell you off when you keep challenging Sara to duels, I want to cook you food that you’ll just binge eat like a crazy person, I want…I want to be close to you, and hold you, and go to sleep with you. I want to kiss you. You’re…you’re the most annoying person I’ve ever met. I love you so much it hurts.”

Itto’s smile is almost manic. He laughs, a soft, quiet thing, and there are tears in his eyes too.

“Then why are you sorry?” He asks, gentle now. “This is everything I’ve ever wanted.”

Gorou opens his mouth to spew the same apologies as before, except it is suddenly very occupied and it hits him that this is his first kiss and it’s probably terrible and Itto will change his mind-

“Yeah.” Itto licks his lips as he pulls away, “I always knew it would be awesome.”

Gorou stares at him, stunned.

“Hey, wanna duel?”

Gorou’s gaze turns incredulous.

“Like a mouth one. A mouth duel. It’s a real thing. We should try it. I bet I’ll win.”

Gorou thinks Itto is right about that. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s duel.”